Director of shelter, veterans program wants to expand services

The new director for the Southwest Safehouse, the Durango Community Shelter and the Veterans Transitional Housing Program wants to introduce new services and longer stays for homeless guests.

Rachel Bauske was promoted in January to be the Southwest Colorado division director for Volunteers of America, the organization that runs the domestic violence and homeless shelters. She has worked with the nonprofit in Durango for 10 years, most recently as the program manager for the shelter and the veterans transitional housing.

She oversaw the introduction of one-on-one case mangement services for veterans, which started in 2012. These new services started because the Department of Veterans Affairs set a goal to end veterans’ homelessness by the end of 2015.